Life of the Past
by greysislove21
Summary: MerDer oneshot. Meredith runs into two significant people from the history of her relationship with Derek about five years after they get married.


**Hey everyone! I was really bored, so this is just a little oneshot about MerDer. Enjoy :)**

**Disclaimer - Ummm...no. But I wish.**

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Meredith had just picked up her daughter from the hospital daycare after a long day of work. Her beautiful three-year-old, Emily, wanted to go to the store and pick up art supplies to make her daddy a birthday card, but it was just one of those days Meredith really wanted to curl up in bed next to Derek and sleep for as long as she could. She had just found out that she was pregnant again about a week ago, and the morning sickness was killing her. Although her aching body was yearning to go home, she couldn't help but smile at the amazingly sweet gesture that her child wanted to surprise Derek with on his special day.

As she was making her way through the hospital lobby with Emily tightly in her grasp, Meredith spotted a familiar woman who was giving her a death stare. She hadn't seen her since she had transferred to pediatrics, and that event had taken place almost five years ago.

"Hi Rose. How are you?" Meredith tried to be as friendly as possible, but let's face it; this situation was extremely awkward, especially when Meredith was holding a clone of Derek Shepherd in a girl, toddler form.

"I was better five years ago," she replied.

"Oh." What was she supposed to say?

"Well, obviously your life turned out the way you wanted it to. The perfect marriage, the dreamy husband, the gorgeous kid. But it should have been mine. You stole it right out from under me," Rose said with anger surging through her veins.

"I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that Derek was the one that chose."

"He did, but you were brainwashing him, and you still are." Rose turned her attention to Emily. "Hi sweetie."

Emily was normally such an outgoing and friendly toddler, but in this moment, she was uncharacteristically shy. Meredith felt it was most likely because of the tension she sensed between her mother and this stranger. She smiled at the thought of how smart her three-year-old was.

"It's okay, Emily. We're going to go to the store to get your art supplies," Meredith turned her attention to Rose, "and we'll probably buy Mommy some Saltine crackers and ginger ale to help with her morning sickness."

Rose stood there, dumbfounded, and Meredith took that as her cue to walk away. She knew that what she said was harsh, but her hormones were always getting the best of her these days. She turned and sped walked to her car, just in case Rose could be following her. She was already too exhausted to be dealing with something that happened such a long time ago when she could barely stay standing.

Meredith strapped her daughter in her car seat. Emily was the spitting image of Derek. She had the hair, the eyes, and the smile. Luckily, she had Meredith's nose. Meredith was glad she could pass on that one quality to her daughter. She could tell that Emily was tired after she let out a giant yawn. Meredith ran her hand through her thick, brown curls that were secured in a pony tail exactly like hers. Emily longed to be identical to her mother every day. Derek would always joke that if Meredith would jump off a bridge, her daughter would follow because she worshipped the ground she walked on. This fact made Meredith feel like she was incompetent, that she wasn't a good enough role model for her daughter. But Derek would always silence those uncertainties when he reminded her of all the love that Emily had in her life.

After a short drive, they finally arrived at the grocery store. Meredith was amused when she watched Emily throw glitter, construction paper, markers, and stickers from the shelves into their shopping cart. Her excitement was contagious as Meredith couldn't stop herself from beaming. Meredith giggled as Emily contemplated if she would need anything else to make the perfect birthday surprise. Her daughter ran down to the other end of the aisle to grab some glue and scissors.

"Meredith?"

She turned around to see none other than Finn. Why was this all happening in one day?

"Hi Finn."

"How's Derek?" He smirked, but he wasn't being as cold as Rose had been. Finn had always been very understanding.

"He's good. He's just at –"

"Mommy!" Emily interrupted, "I found stickers of Nemo for Daddy's card. I think he'll like them a lot because he likes to go fishing," her daughter finished matter-of-factly.

And once again, Emily saves the day. "I bet Daddy will love those!" Meredith exclaimed with all the enthusiasm she could muster.

"Wow. She looks exactly like him."

"Thanks. Emily, this is Finn."

"Hi! My name is Emily Cristina Shepherd. I'm making my daddy a surprise for his birthday. I think I'm gonna put it on blue paper with some glitter and a lot of stickers. And I'll write my name on it, and then Mommy's gonna write 'Happy Birthday Daddy!' It will be so cool," Emily told him.

"I think your daddy will like that a lot."

"Thanks!"

Finn looked at Meredith. "I honestly didn't think you two would last, but I'm happy to see I was wrong. You have a beautiful daughter."

"Thank you, Finn." He had always been a nice guy, just not the one for her. "And how have you been?"

"I just got married six months ago. And then last week, we rescued a dog from the pound."

"Congratulations. It's good that you're happy."

"I am. I'm glad our lives worked out the way they should have all along."

"Me too. Bye, Finn."

"Goodbye, Meredith."

About a half an hour later, Meredith arrived at their dream home on Derek's land to the smell of dinner cooking. She found Derek in the kitchen with three plates set around the table. She could tell he was making Italian food, what she had been craving all week. He always pampered her and payed attention to her every need, and it was especially apparent when she was pregnant.

"Daddy!"

"Hey princess!" Derek pulled Emily into a bear hug. Meredith loved watching him with her. He was an amazing father.

Derek put Emily in her chair at the table and walked over to Meredith.

"Hey," he said. Then, he pulled her into a quick kiss. Meredith melted in his embrace.

Their dinner was filled with a lot of talk about Emily's day. She was very chatty, a characteristic inherited by her father. After they finished eating, Meredith and Derek took Emily to bed after reading her a couple of her favorite stories.

In the solitude of their bedroom, Meredith smiled at Derek.

"You're never going to guess what happened to me today."

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**Please review if you want more MerDer oneshots :) **


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